A Blog on Mythology and occasionally on Reality.

Pages

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Today
is Cheti Chand, the New Year for the
Sindhi community and there is a very interesting myth on the origins of this
day too.

According
to a myth, the Turkish invaders were imposing their might and right on the
Hindu’s by forcing them to convert to Islam, in the region of the Sapta-sindhu, the land of seven rivers.
Among them was a tyrannical Mirkshah who issued a dictate that all the Hindus
should embrace Islam. The people of the region (Sindh, now in Pakistan) went to
the banks of the river Sindhu and prayed continuously for forty days to the
Lord of the oceans, Varuna (Varuna was a Vedic god). On the fortieth day, they
heard a voice which said that the Lord would take a human form (avatar) and be born to one Ratanchand
Lohana and his wife, Devaki, who would be their saviour. Soon a child was born
to the Lohanas, who was named Uderolal (one who came from the waters). When the
child was put in the cradle, the cradle started rocking by itself and thus he
popularly came to be known as Jhulelal.

During his birth and thereafter while
he was growing up, there are many stories that highlight a number of miracles
performed by him. All these miracles only reinforced in the minds of the people
and the rulers that this was no ordinary child. In due course of time Jhulelal
and Mirkshah came face to face and Jhulelal managed to convince Mirkshah that
who he called Allah was none other than who the Hindus called Ishwar and the
twain was one. Mirkshah however did not give up till he was threatened by a
miracle. It is said that when Jhulelal tried to convince him about the oneness
of the religion, Mirkshah ordered the arrest of Jhulelal in the court. As soon
as he did, waters gushed into the court drowning all and threatening to do the
same to Mirkshah too. At the same time, there was fire all around. Mirkshah was
surprised and scared to see what had just happened and begged for mercy. No
sooner had he done that, the waters receded and the fire was extinguished.

After
this, Jhulelal was worshipped by both the Hindus and the Muslims and it is said
that on his death, to commemorate the site, a structure was built, one side of
which is a Hindu Samadhi and the
other side is a Muslim Dargah – a
rare site of the unification or the oneness of the two religions. Cheti Chand
is the birth day of Jhulelal, who has come to be known as the patron saint of
the Sindhi’s and a messiah of communal harmony.

This
is a very unique myth. Very rarely have we found a Vedic god associated with
the myths and here we see the association of Varuna who has no significant
counterpart in the Puranas. Also, history (the times, the invaders and the
rulers can be traced back) has been merged with mythology. Jhulelal has been
depicted as an old man sitting atop a ‘pala’
fish (a fish which swims against the tide, again symbolic of Jhulelal's going against the powers-that-be of the times). Since Jhulelal was considered to be
the human form of Varuna, the depiction of fish (again a marine life) is not
too far-fetched. Also since the civilization and the culture thrived on the
banks of the Sindhu River, association of Lord Varuna can be explained. The
popular depiction of Jhulelal being old and elderly could be to grant him a
sense of acceptance amongst the people of the times as old was always
associated with wisdom. Miracles were to grant him a divine status.

All
in all, an interesting combination of history and mythology with a message of
communal harmony. On this occassion, here's wishing all my Sindhi friends -Cheti Chand jyon Lakh Lakh
Wadayun Athav

Friday, March 23, 2012

Today
is Gudi Padwa, the Maharashtrian New
Year. The day is marked with celebration and rituals and needless to say that
the day has its significance in the Hindu mythology!

As
per the Brahma Purana, it was on this
day that Lord Brahma recreated the universe after it was destroyed in a massive
deluge where all life had ceased to be alive. Time started from this day and
some say, it was the beginning of Sata-yuga,
the era of truth and justice. Some celebrate the day as the coronation of Lord
Rama on his return to Ayodhya from the 14-year exile.

A
gudi is a pole on top of which an
upturned pot is fixed and then the same is covered with a coloured silk cloth
and hoisted at the entrance of the door. This is hoisted to ward off evil from
the house. However, some call it the Brahmadhwaj,
the flag of Lord Brahma commemorating his creation.

On
this day, traditionally, leaves of neem tree are eaten with cumin seeds and jaggery.
This is significant from a medical point of view as the weather has taken a
turn towards heat and the combination can act as a good antidote to the
onslaught of diseases that heat brings along with itself. To associate this
with the day is only to give divine sanction for something that is good for
health. A blend of religious ritual with aspects of nature which has been a
staple with many a festival.

Well,
here’s wishing all my Maharashtrian friends a very happy new year!!

Tomorrow is the new year of another community and we will
read about the same tomorrow!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Today
we will read about another dance form that has a popular mythological
association is that of the Tandava-nritya by Lord Shiva. During
every dance performance, an idol of Nataraja
always adorns the stage and as the name depicts, Lord Shiva is the King of all dance
performances (nat – dance/performance
and raja – king). In due course of
time, the image of Nataraja has become the symbol of India.

There
are different versions of the reason behind the dance form by Shiva. Some say
that the form depicts the cosmic cycle of creation and destruction wherein Lord
Shiva is on a destructive spree before Lord Brahma can begin his creation, also
referred to as the ananda-tandava.

According
to a legend, once a group of sages from a particular school of thought started
neglecting the rituals and worship and tried to find ways of superseding the
gods. To teach them a lesson, Lord Shiva walked into the hermitage in the form
of a handsome youth while all of them were busy in their yagnas. The wives of the sages were so enamoured by the looks of
Shiva that they gave up all decency and started following him. Seeing this, the
sages were enraged and thought of teaching a lesson to the youth. Through their
powers, they created a ferocious lion, who was skinned in minutes by Shiva and
used the skin to adorn himself (some versions say that he had walked in the
hermitage nude to lure the wives of the sages). The sages then created a
serpent which raised its fangs and Shiva picked it up and flung it around his
waist. The sages then created a demonic dwarf, named Apasamara, the demon of forgetfulness. To control it, Shiva started
the tandava and soon alighted atop the
dwarf and crushed it. Seeing the earth shake and everything tremble under the
impact of the dance, the sages came back to their senses and fell at the feet
of Shiva. This is supposed to have taken place in a hermitage near the present
day Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, where stands the magnificent temple of
Chidambaram, one of the few temples to worship Lord Shiva in the Nararaja form.

Some
versions also say, that Shiva and Vishnu got together to teach the sages a
lesson. Vishnu took the form of Mohini to distract the sages and Shiva took the
form of the handsome youth. While the wives ran after the ascetic, the sages
got distracted by the presence of the enchantress. But thereafter there is no
role of Mohini in the myth, except to watch the celestial dance performance of
Lord Shiva.

The
temple of Chidambaram also has another interesting aspect of the tandava nritya. According to some
legend, there was a dance-duel between Shiva and goddess Kali, who too was
doing the cosmic dance of destruction. During the duel, Shiva raised his left
foot towards the sky (urdhuva tandava)
a definite mail posture, which could not be performed by a female. Kali blushed
and accepted defeat and it is said that since then Kali has been relegated to
another temple in the outskirts of the city of Chidambaram. This myth is
depicted in one of the halls of the temple of Chidambaram.

The
Nataraja is generally seen with Lord Shiva standing on his right leg with the
left leg raised. But in a rare form, in one of the halls of the temple of
Chidambaram, the lord is seen doing exactly the opposite. The legend associated
with this is that one of the Pandya kings who was a great devotee of Lord Shiva
learnt all the forms of the tandava.
While learning he realized how tough the form was and he felt that the lord had
been standing in the same form for too long which must be painful and tiring.
So he went to the said hall and started praying to the lord to change his form
and give his right leg some respite. When nothing happened he took his sword to
cut off his head. Seeing this Lord Shiva is supposed to have agreed to change
his posture and this is probably the only place where the Nataraja is seen standing
on his left leg with his right leg raised!

The
philosophers decipher meanings from different aspect of the posture and the
form of the dance. Every aspect has a hidden symbolism, which is not something
I would delve on. The artistic form of the tandava
dance and the myriad myths associated with the form is by itself very
intriguing and I hope I have been able to bring out the very spirit of the
tough dance form.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Recently
I was invited to an Arangetram where
a friend’s daughter performed Bharatanatyam
for nearly three hours. Needless to say that it was a visual treat and near
sublime. During the performance there were instances when the dancer was
enacting different emotions and all the references were that of gods and
goddesses from Hindu mythology. This set me thinking on the origins of this
beautiful and divine dance form.

To
begin with – Arangetram is a Tamil
word where ‘aranga’ means a raised
floor and ‘etram’ means to ascend. In
short an arangetram is the first
public performance of a disciple who has undergone years of arduous training in
the dance form. The first performance is that much a test for the disciple as
it is for the guru or the teacher who feels proud to showcase his own skills as
he prides over the achievement of his disciple.

As
always with Indian aspects, there is mythology behind this too!

According
to Hindu Mythology, the gods and goddesses requested Lord Brahma, who was the Creator
of all, to create a text which was accessible and understandable to common man
– a fifth veda. Considering the
request, Lord Brahma created the Pancham-veda
also known as Natyaveda, which was
the embodiment of all the four vedas,
i.e. Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva Vedas.

It
is said that Lord Brahma took aspects of words (pathya) from the Rig Veda,
aspects of the gesture (abhinaya)
from Yajur Veda, song and music (geet) from Sama Veda and emotions (rasa)
from the Atharva Veda to create his
final Pancham-veda. Lord Brahma then
gave this to sage Bharata for him to spread it amongst mankind. With the help
of this text, Bharata muni wrote what
is better known as the Natyashastra
or the science of drama, a complete text on Indian dance, drama and music. Bharatanatyam
got its name from sage Bharata.

Another
version says that this is the dance form which was taught by Parvati to Usha,
who was the daughter of a demon by the name of Banasura and Usha in return
taught the same to the gopikas of Dwarka.
This is how the dance form reached mankind.

The
modern format of the Bharatanatyam is credited to the efforts of four brothers,
who were collectively known as the Tanjore Quartet, in the 19th
century. Together, they organized the dance form into progressive lessons to
enable teaching of the art form. They also composed additional music for
performances which combined with graceful movements added to the sheer divinity
of the performance.

Bharatanatyam
has mythological association and has a direct ‘involvement’ of the gods. This
lends it the divine credence and also the much needed dedication and discipline
for such tough and long-drawn learning, which is no less than worship and on
achievement, the performers feel nothing short of heavenly bliss. Ask my
friends daughter and she would vouch for this!

Next we will read about another important dance form with
mythological explanations. Keep reading!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Today
is Holi and also International Women’s Day, so happy holi to all and a
very happy women’s day to all the women I know and the rest, whom I would love
to know!

Having
said that, there is a hidden irony in today’s Holi. On one hand we are
celebrating Women’s day, and on the other hand this day is a day when the image
of the women has to take a beating! Let’s go thru some of the myths of Holi and
it will be apparent.

First
and the most common name associated with Holi is that of Holika. Holika was the
aunt of Prahlad, who was the son of Hiranyakashyap. Hiranyakashyap was an
egoistic ruler who had commanded that only he should be worshipped and none
else. However, his son Prahlad used to worship Lord Vishnu and no orders or
threats would deter him from doing so. Hiranyakashyap had made many attempts of
eliminate his son, but each time Lord Vishnu would save him. Holika had a boon,
whereby fire could not touch her or harm her, so on this day, she managed to
coax Prahlad to sit on her lap and enter the fire. But due to her evil
intentions of killing a pious boy, it was she who got burnt and Prahlad came
out unscathed. Holi gets its name from the evil aunt, Holika.

Mathura
celebrates Holi by burning the effigy of a demoness (female demon – if I may!!), Putana. According to a legend, the King
of Mathura, Kamsa (also Lord Krishna’s uncle) had sent Putana to kill the baby
Krishna. She tried to suckle baby Krishna by oozing poison from her breasts. But
the Lord knew about her evil designs and sucked her life out leaving her
lifeless. Till this day, the Yadava community in Mathura, burn the effigy of
Putana who is sometimes also referred to as Holi.

Finally
a lesser known myth – the myth of Dhundhi. In the kingdom of Prithu there lived
a terrible ogress (a female giant or
monster in myths and fairy tales) by the name of Dhundhi. Dhundhi was invincible
as she had received a boon that she would not be killed by men or gods; could
not be harmed by arms or heat or cold or rain. This had made her a menace and
she was known for devouring young children. Prithu was worried about this and
so one day he called his priest to see if there was a solution to this menace.
The priest said that besides the boons, she also had a curse from Lord Shiva.
According to the curse, she was not immune to pranks and abuses from boys. So
it was decided that on this day – when it is neither cold nor hot and
definitely no rain, the young boys (who are not men as yet and definitely not
gods) would consume bhang (to get
them delirious), and make a lot of noise and abuse her out of the kingdom,
which Dhundhi could not resist. Till date this behavior of young boys can be
seen and no offence is taken on this day!

As
we have seen, that the festival celebrates the elimination of a female form, be
it an aunt or a demoness or an ogress. To add fuel to fire, the day is also
known as the day to celebrate the victory of good over evil!

Heavens!!
Where do I hide today?

Happy
Holi and a great Women’s Day to all the lovely women of the world!!!!

Friday, March 2, 2012

In
the last two articles, we read about Barbareek, aka Khatu Shyam Baba, a North
Indian deity prevalent in parts of Rajasthan and adjacent areas. Today we will
read about a similar myth from the South India. Please note the striking
similarities.

This
is the myth of Iravan which is prevalent in Tamil Nadu and the nearby areas.

Iravan
was the son of Arjuna and Uloopi, the Naga princess. During the 13 year exile
for the Pandavas, one year was spent by Arjuna as a penance and during this
year he is supposed to have travelled far and wide. This was actually done for
him to forge alliances and acquire weapons and powers. It was during this one
year that, he visited what is present day North-East of India. There he came
across Uloopi and they get married. However, the relationship was a very brief
one as Arjuna had to move on soon after his marriage. Iravan was born out of
this brief relationship. However, Arjuna gets to see his son only prior to the
war of Kurukshetra and asks him to join the war, which the brave Iravan agrees
to.

There
are no major reasons or events leading to his sacrifice, except for the fact
that he was a brave warrior and the principle of offering sacrifice prior to
the war. There are different versions of the sacrifice in the case of Iravan.
Some say that he offered to be sacrificed on the 18th day of the battle
to Ma Kali. The more prevalent belief is that he was sacrificed at the
beginning of the war. However he was rewarded by a couple of boons for the
heroic deed. One was that his head would witness the entire battle from a
hilltop. The other boon was that since he wanted to die a heroic death, he
wanted to be mourned by a widow after his death.

Ritual enactment of lamenting thedeath of Iravan by eunuchs

Having
agreed to the boon, there was one problem. No woman wanted to marry him and be
his wife for a night as he was to die the very next day. Seeing this Krishna
decides to take his previous form of Mohini, the enchantress, gets married to
Iravan and spends the night with him. Later in the morning, after his death, Mohini
mourns the death of Iravan like a widow. There are different versions to this
aspect, in different parts of the state and its neighbourhood with some
eliminating the episode of Mohini’s mourning completely. Even to this day, in a
ritual enactment of the mourning, many transvestites and eunuchs enact the
ritual mourning by crying, beating their chests and breaking bangles on the day
of the said sacrifice of Iravan. In some Krishna temples, he is decked in a
white saree for a day, to mark the
day as the day of widowhood.

What
is interesting to note is that more than worship or a religious following,
Iravan is a very popular folklore and a common theme or subject of folk
theaters and plays. This myth could just have been woven to lend divinity to
Iravan the folk hero by associating him with Arjuna and Lord Krishna of the
epic Mahabharata. His face makes for very colourful masks and is a great hit
with the locals in the rural areas. He is also referred to as the god of the
transvestites and the eunuchs who are locally referred to as Ali’s also referred to as Aravani (that of Iravan).

In
some of the plays which dramatizes the whole episode of Iravan, he is compared
with the likes of Puru and Bhishma who are known to have sacrificed for their
fathers, Yayati and Shantanu respectively. Iravan’s sacrifice of his life for
the victory of his father is seen as bigger than that of Puru who gave up his
youth for his father Yayati and Bhishma who gave up the throne and matrimony
for his father, Shantanu.

Though
there are similarities with that of Barbareek, there are some prominent
differences, besides the parentage of the two.

First
and foremost, the heroic allusions are missing in the case of Iravan, though
the same does find mention in the dramatic enactments of Iravan. Nowhere is
there reference of his infallible arrows and his participation in the war
having a pre-condition.

Second,
Lord Krishna does not have the role of testing Iravan; rather here he is
central to being part of the sacrifice. He does suggest the sacrifice, but he
does not make it obligatory as a word given for charity as done in the case of
Barbareek. Thus in this myth, Krishna actually comes out as a savior who bails
out Iravan with his last wish.

Third,
the association with the transgender and transvestites is a bit of an enigma.
How this practice of Iravan being a god for the community and the ritual
enactment of mourning by them came about is unknown. However, one can theory
could be that the marriage could not be said to be consummated as ultimately
Mohini was a male and the relationship was thus not normal. Also, except for
the mourning by the widow of Iravan, there wasn’t anything of a marriage as he
was still deprived of a coital bliss, something that the community is deprived
of too. The identification of the Ali’s state with that of Iravan and thus the
lament is quite understandable. (If there
are any other theories, then please feel free to forward the same to the Blog..).

During
this period a number of fertility rites are also performed. One of them is that
prior to the ceremony, a goat is killed and the blood of the goat is smeared with
cooked rice and the same is offered to idols of Iravan. It is believed that
this rice eaten by women can help them conceive. The presence of such rituals
actually bears testimony to some ancient practice (even tribal practive) which
has got assimilated with the popular epic. The strong folk-connotation also
refers to some folklore associated with a popular folktale.

An
interesting myth, but localized as per the region.

It
is said that there are similar characters in other parts of India like
Bundelkhand, Orissa and Himachal Pradesh. There is a popular version of Iravan
in Java too, but that’s for another day!

About Me

Utkarsh has qualifications in Mythology, both Indian and World from Mumbai University. He is also a faculty on the subject of Comparative Mythology, at the Mumbai University, India. Utkarsh is also a regular trainer and lecturer on varying subjects at private organisations and educational institutions.

Utkarsh has more than 2 decades of experience in Sales and Business Development of IT products and solutions. He has worked with some of the well known IT organisations, some being start-ups, in India. Utkarsh is also a regular trainer and lecturer on varying subjects at private organisations and educational institutions.

Besides his Blog he is also a content provider to a few portals on similar subjects. Some of his short stories have been published in the well known literary story Blog, called LITIZEN. Utkarsh has also written a book on the subject of mythological-fiction, and working on another one, both of which are expected to be published in the next few months.